"Immediately Allow Petitioner-Firm to Login on the GST portal": Rajasthan HC to GSTN for Failure to Login with provisional GSTN since 2017 [Read Order]

The Rajasthan High Court recently directed the GST Network ( GSTN ) to immediately allow the petitioner firm to log in on the Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) portal.

The firm, which had successfully migrated from the VAT regime to GST, faced issues when it was denied login access on the GST portal due to the mismatch. Despite resubmitting the correct PAN details and reaching out to various authorities, including the jurisdictional GST officers and the GSTN helpdesk, the petitioner could not resolve the issue, resulting in an inability to file returns and comply with GST obligations since July 2017.

The contention of the petitioner was that due to the inability to login at the common portal and in the absence of the migration, the petitioner cannot file returns or pay taxes and discharge its GST liability from July 2017 onwards.

Complete Supreme Court Judgment on GST from 2017 to 2024 with Free E-Book Access, Click here

The counsel submitted that in absence of the migration the petitioner-Firm is also unable to access the various online services which are available on the GST website.

The court, in reference to a similar ruling by the Allahabad High Court in M/s  Metro Institutes of Medical Sciences Pvt. Ltd. Vs. State of U.P. & Ors. in Writ Tax No.702/2017, ordered the authorities to permit the petitioner to complete the migration process, file returns, and pay the required tax.

The bench of Dr. Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Munnuri Laxman observed that the delay was due to no fault of the petitioner and highlighted the potential financial harm caused by the prolonged access issue.

Complete Supreme Court Judgment on GST from 2017 to 2024 with Free E-Book Access, Click here

It was noted that the contention of the petitioner was that despite there being no fault on the part of petitioner, in the given circumstances, there is every likelihood that it may suffer adverse financial consequences, apparently, due to laches on the part of authority concerned.

Thus, the Goods and Services Tax Network and GST Authorities were directed to  immediately allow the petitioner-Firm to login on the GST portal for completing the process of migration for uploading its returns and to deposit the due tax.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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